As a newbie to the forum, I felt compelled to chime in.
In our area, LL is some $180 for a typical spring season, and that cost for mediocrity alone actually lends itself to the travel ball alternative at the younger levels, for those who are ready for a more developmental and competitive experience.
The other variable is age - my son, who because of living in Florida, had played almost 4 seasons by the time we moved up to the Carolina's - but because of his birthday and "league age" he was resigned to 2 more years of 'coach pitch' - unless you play the political game, they hold players down regardless of ability.
Not saying he was a superstar, but he already was beyond a typical rec ball practice and easily the best player on his team, and in the end quite bored by it. We played that spring , and moved on to travel ball that summer (machine pitch), and ultimately 9u (modified steal) that fall just after he turned 8. Now, since he played up he suffered a little from the playing time side, but benefited tremendously because of the practices and playing experience.
Now, this fall I let him play rec ball along with our light travel ball schedule, and was shocked although I should not have been - he was light years ahead of most of the players in our league in terms of fundamental skills, baseball awareness and skill. The real good rec players (challenge or All- Star) I saw here would be mediocre travel players at this age level, and would very much be left behind by the time they are 11, and thats not some daddy speaking, because we've had them out to tryouts, and a lot of "studs" in rec ball struggle with simple drills we run in practices, can't execute simple skills like bunting, heads up running, properly fielding a fly ball.